December 09, 2004 - 3:58 p.m.

JP and I had an honest-to-goodness date date last night.

Don�t get me wrong. We do many fun things together. But last night was one of those dates that, when you�re 13 or so, you imagine everyone who lives in a big city has all the time. (Little do you know, when you�re 13, how big a role movie rentals will end up playing in your social life.) There was fine dining. There was art. There were subtitles, for god�s sake.

We started off with dinner at Tallula, this amazing Indian/French/Californian place that I first discovered during Jen Wade�s birthday dinner this year. The restaurant itself is in an old Victorian. To reach the dining rooms, you have to follow the hostess through what seems like several hallways and up a big old curved staircase, so that you could be forgiven for wondering if maybe she�s just taking you somewhere to kill you.

She�s not, though (probably). Instead, she is taking up to one of the many funky little dining rooms (ours was red, with these to have what could be one of the best meals of your freakin� life. Last night, we had the curry-spiced French fries, some steamed mussels with this insanely good Thai coconut sauce, a lobster crepe and some sort of crazy salad with jicama and radishes and tamarind. Dessert was two pots of cr�me brulee-type stuff, except that one was flavored with mango and the other was flavored with Earl Grey tea. God, it was good.

Afterwards, we had a little time to kill, so I dragged JP to see an exhibit by this guy, whose paintings I really like and would definitely buy, if I were the kind of person who had sophisticated, fine-dining, art-type dates all the time and could afford such things. (Granted, this exhibit is being held in a Starbucks, but still! Art! Culture! Sophistication!)

Then, we went to the Castro Theatre, where we saw Who Killed Bambi, which, OK, was your standard thriller. However, it was a French thriller that went on a little too long and involved lots of dream symbolism, so I think we totally get sophistication points for going.

And oh! I should mention that for all these festivities, I smelled spectacular. Not that I usually smell offensive or anything (I don�t think.) But I had some time to kill before dinner, so I spent it wandering around the L�Occitane store on Castro, where I tried out some amazing, way-too-expensive body lotion. So I even smelled like someone who spends all her time eating fancy dinners and seeing foreign films and buying art.

Of course, the night wasn�t without its goofy moments. We may or may not have spent some time at a newsstand giggling at porn magazines. And I cannot confirm or deny reports of a Red Vine fight that broke out during the movie. (Although if I were confirming or denying it, I would point out that I totally didn�t start it.)

I�m not saying that I am unhappy with my normal social life. (Well, OK. I would like if it involved that body lotion.) I�d say that JP and I generally have more fun than most people. And it�s a good thing, too. Because if we went out like that with any regularity, we would soon find it difficult to do things like pay rent. But every once in a while it�s good to go out and pretend to be the big-city person you imagined you would be at 13.

previous - next